The Royal Canadian Legion Saskatchewan Command LEST WE FORGET 247 The Legion was formed on April 30, 1945, with Guy Gislason as the first President and Karl Sveinson, first Secretary/Treasurer. Other officers were: 1st Vice-President, A.M. Taylor; 2ndVice-President, Tom Derry; Sergeant-at-Arms, S.0. Gowen. The Executive Committee included Ken Hedstrom, Charles Clark, and James Attfield. The meetings were held in the Masonic Lodge Hall until 1947, when the Legion bought the town hall from Mr. Laskin. In 1948, they bought a hangar at Dafoe Airport. The Royal Canadian Legion is a Dominion-wide fraternal organization of men and women who served in any of the Canadian Armed Forces or RCMP, or sons and daughters of such members. It is democratic, non-political, non-sectarian, and open to Canadian citizens regardless of racial origin. It was form-ed to promote the welfare of all Veterans and their dependants, the comradeship and mutual self-help of men and women, with a common bond of service and loyalty to Canada, to perpetuate the memory of those who lost their lives in service and those Veterans who die in the future, ensure that all Veterans will receive a suitable burial and to care for memorials and graves. On April 30, 1945, twenty-one World War I and World War II Veterans, including some members of the Great War Veterans Association, met and agreed to form a Branch of the Royal Canadian Legion at Elfros. The charter was issued on May 26, 1945, making Elfros the 237th Branch of Saskatchewan Command. The charter members were Comrades E.J. Attfield, E.G. Biggs, H.C. Bjarnason, C.E. Clark, R.E. Fewster, G. Gislason, S.0. Gowen, G.F. Gudmund-son, W.J. Hutchinson, P.T. Mawhinney, M.G.K. Sveinson and A.M. Taylor. In 1967, they built a Cenotaph in the Elfros village park, to honour Comrades who lost their lives in action. The names of Comrades Russell Bennett, Peter Bennett, George Govier, Francis Black, Herbert Cook, Donald Smith, John Gislason and Gilbert Smith are inscribed thereon. Each year on November 11th, we pay tribute to these men and all our Comrades who have since departed by laying wreaths at the base of the Cenotaph. The first hall in Elfros was built in 1911 by the Independent Order of Foresters, with James Smith as carpenter. After the First World War of 1914-1918, the Great War Veterans Association used the hall as a meeting place. The Independent Order of Foresters folded up and the hall was purchased by Mr. B. Laskin. After the Second World War of 1939-1945, the Elfros Legion was formed and in 1946 they bought the hall. In 1947, they bought a building at the Dafoe Airport and dismantled it, using the material to build on the front of the hall, to provide a larger entrance and clubrooms. An annex was then at-tached to the south side for a kitchen. In 1975, they decided to build a new hall. Construction started in April and the hall was finished by November 11, 1975. The cost of the hall was $56,000. It was financed by donations from the public, government grants, their own money, and a line of credit from the Elfros Credit Union. When the hall was finished, they owed $26,000 on the line of credit; this was changed to a 10-year mortgage loan. This mortgage was paid off and they held a mortgage burning on November 11, 1980. In November 1982, there was a fire in the hall, which started in the carpet of the clubrooms. The fire and smoke damage was over $40,000, which was covered by insurance. The damage was repaired in time for our annual New Year's Eve Social on December 31, 1982. Some of the Legion activities within our the branch include assisting Veterans with pension difficulties, transportation costs, and trips to the city for interviews, medicals, etc., assisting members' families with funeral arrangements and burials, helping widows and dependants to get pensions, and in general, looking after the needs of our Comrades. In 1960, we organized and helped plant Comrade Cottam's crop when he suddenly took sick. Another time, in 1973, Branch members helped harvest and stack feed for Comrade Delaney. They take an active part in Legion organization and control structure, all the way from Branch to Provincial Command and to Dominion convention. They also participate in Legion curling and golf activities, sponsor students to track and field camp, etc. Community work included providing $1,000 for seating in the west side of the skating rink in 1952. About 1956, they started holding a children's sports day and picnic on the last day of school. This carried on for about fifteen years. In 1961, we purchased $450 worth of goalie equipment; in 1966, they sup-plied sweaters for the young hockey players; and in 1967, they assisted the Wadena Branch in furnishing a four-bed ward in the new Wadena Union Hospital. The Legion started figure skating lessons and turned it over, a couple of years later, to the Figure Skating Club when it was formed. In 1979, they took an active part in the 70th Anniversary celebration of the R.M. of Elfros, villages of Elfros, Leslie and Mozart and also the Homecoming Celebration in 1980. For several years, the Legion and Rink Board have operated a successful outdoor cash bingo. The Branch members, individually, have been and still are active in all facets of community life. They hope to continue to work for their Comrades and com-munity in the years ahead. ELFROS BRANCH 237
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